Real Madrid aren’t really planning on using Kaka in a significant capacity next season, but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to let him go cheaply to AC Milan, with talks between the clubs for the former FIFA player of the year currently being held.
Kaka turned 30 this season, still trying to overcome the injuries that have hampered his Real Madrid tenure since the first season. Even when healthy, he seemed like second option for Jose Mourinho behind Mesut Ozil or in any of the wide positions. He has played in only 65 matches for Real since arriving, scoring 20 goals. Not a bad output, but Kaka has hardly been a part of the big matches for Real over the last couple of years, forgotten, on purpose or not, by Mourinho.
That isn’t stopping Real from asking around €20 million for the player, the third most expensive footballer of all time behind Zinadine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo, both Real Madrid purchases, costing €68.5 in 2009. AC Milan are probably willing to pay the transfer fee, but might have a problem with the salary that Kaka will demand, currently making €9 million a season at the Bernabeu.
Milan have been mostly about selling this summer, letting go of most of their significant players, mostly the old ones – Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva in a mega deal with PSG; Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso, Mark van Bommel and Clarence Seedorf were released; Inzaghi retired. Some of the fans even had a wake, claiming that the club is now dead. The only significant addition has been Ricardo Montolivo from Fiorentina, arriving via free transfer.
But the club’s chiefs know they need to do something that’ll be about spending some money, showing their fans that they do have some aspirations heading into the 2012-2013 season. Trying to bring back Milan’s best player of the last 8 seasons, a Champions League winner with the club in 2007, is a step in the right direction. The problem is that it might not exactly fall in line with their strict financial plans and limitations, heading into the era of the FIFA financial fair play regulations.